Evolution of Partisan Comedies - Thesis Example

Partisan Comedies This paper examines the evolution of partisan comedy in the United s. In gathering information and data, the researcher will utilize secondary research based on broadcasted, aired, performed and published materials of comedies. To find out the effects of partisan comedies in the lives of American people, the researcher will try to highlight one popular contemporary political satire entertainment show “The Colbert Report” (pronounced Coal-bear Re-pore). Reviews done by various popular media outlets as well as people’s reactions on the show will be analyzed. In conducting such study, the researcher proposes that partisan comedies in the US have significant influence on the social and political views of the American people. Introduction Comedy is a form of entertainment art which primary purpose is to provoke laughter. It does not only include the elements of humorous dialogue or actions but also the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations. Actually, there are various forms of comedy based on their source of humor, the method of delivery, and the context in which it is delivered (Griffin, p.1). One of the most popular forms of comedy is satire. It is a composition that deals with the fragments of society. And the person who uses satire is called satirist. Certainly, the word satire was coined to describe a collection of literary poem or commonly known as poetic medley. Then, it may also mean a poem that was riddled with vices. It was widely used to describe many works of literature that exposes foolishness or vices in humans, organizations, or even governments. It is a form of entertainment which uses the art of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or humor/comedy in order to effect reaction, change or even to prevent it. It is widely available in written verse or prose, vocal and even in visual form (Griffin, p.1). Today, partisan comedy shows are becoming very popular in the US since it was revolutionized in media. In fact, it becomes an effective tool especially in exposing political and social issues. Thus, this research paper attempts to determine the specific publication or reviews, or media perception of partisan comedy shows in the US as well as to analyze the influence of the show or comedy on published opinion and public reaction through review of published literature and to determine any link or consequential political or governmental action regarding the comedy or show. The researcher has found these objectives important in this study because these have significant contribution in the evolution of partisan comedy in the United States. Literature Review Evolution of Comedy in US Comedy is a popular literary or entertainment which usually use humorous performance, satirical tone, or jokes to amuse and make the audience laugh. It also includes the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations. Actually, comedy was used in varied forms of arts and entertainment. But, the development of each form also marked the conceptualization and development of another form i.e. the radio comedy leads in the development of comedy in television (Rourke, 324). In the United States, partisan comedies can be traced back after the American Revolution when the country was already freed from worries and chaos and when the American citizen begun to appreciate the works of art such as comedy. At first, comedy was only used in writing and speaking but years later it expanded in other forms such as in literatures, cartoons, magazines, animation, theater, vaudeville, radio, recordings, television and films even in standup comedy (Rourke, 324). In literature, the earliest available material for comedy and satire was the work of Thomas Morton from Marymount, which was entitled the “New English Canaan” published and circulated in 1637. The author used humor and wit to compare the cultural values of native people and English Puritan colonists. Another was also the “Entertaining Passages from King Phillip’s War by Benjamin Church in which he narrated the foolish tactics and needless tragedies of the conflict observed by a frontiersman and his Native New Englanders friend. The work of Mark Twain has also significant contribution in the development of comedy in which he was considered as one of the “founding father” of American humor because of creating the “American voice” to humor. Likewise, Ernest Hemingway was also regarded in the development because of his invention of American literature. There were other literary works which shaped the development of comedy such as the work of Ambrose Bierce (Devil’s Dictionary), Samuel Minturn Peck (My Sweetheart) and Hayden Carruth (Uncle Bentley and the Roosters). Other comedy/humor writers with contribution also include Dorothy Parker, SJ Perelman, Robert Benchley, P.J. O’Rourke, Louis Harding, Erma Bombeck and Dave Barry (Herman et.al, p1). Meanwhile, comedy/humor was also become popular for magazines, cartoons and animation. The earliest comic magazine was the National Lampoon which was printed in 1970. It usually contains popular culture, counterculture and politics. Actually, the hit circulation of the magazine marked the start of comedy films and show programs even though it was defunct in 1998. Animated comedy cartoons was boomed in the 20th century such Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, Chuck Jones and the like. Comedy was also popularized in theater in the 19th century with the minstrelsy show. In the middle of the 19th century, burlesque was already a popular form of comedy entertainment which was conceptualized from farce. The farce was played mostly by females who imitate male roles to make joke or fun with the politics and culture. But, the burlesque was banned because of its sexuality. Comedy was also used in variety of live entertainment called vaudeville. This form of comedy entertainment was very famous in late 19th century up to early 20th century. The show usually pantomimes public figures or personalities (Herman et.al, p1). In 1926, comedy was also launched in radio program Sam and Henry by WGN station. Then, it was followed by CBS station in 1928 with their “The Gumps Amos & Andy.” This was the first radio comedy series which was also filmed in 1930 and showed as sitcom in television in 1951. Jack Benny was considered as the first American radio comedienne. In films, comedy was first recognized in 1920. And it flourished throughout the years because of the increasing numbers of comedy directors. Situation comedy was also conceptualized from radio comedy. The “I love Lucy” was the first US sitcom which garnered the highest ratings. This sitcom was focused on Lucy, the main character who was ambitious and a trying hard lady whose actions always end up in comedic mess. Due to its obvious success, it was followed by several TV networks. In 1960, there were the “The Beverly Hillbillies” and the “The Andy Griffith Show.” There was also the “All in the Family” in 1970 and the list could go on and on. Comedy was also popularly used for stand-up comedy. This was became an instant hit in 1950s which topics usually focused on situations of everyday life. But, it mellowed down in 1980s. Among the popular US stand-up comedians include Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin and among others. The usual topics for stand-up comedy during those times were focused on race, religion and sex (Cornford, pp 3-4). The Colbert Report Show Since, partisan comedy shows revolutionarize in television in the past decades, several shows such as the “The Colbert Report” have skyrocketed in popularity. The “The Colbert Report” is a contemporary American satire show which is hosted by political humorist, comedienne-actor Stephen Colbert. The show is aired every late night from Monday to Thursday at the Comedy Central Channel. The show was first conceptualized by Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin, the executive producer of The Daily Show. The purpose then was only to expand the franchise of the said show which just won the Emmy Awards in 2005. And also to hold Colbert by giving a new show since John Stewart, his co-star in the Daily Show has shifted to other career. The concept of the show was actually conceived when the two producers have watched the coverage of Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment case. Then, Busboy Productions, owned by Stewart named the show The Report. After it was thoroughly conceptualized, Colbert along with the two producers presented it to Doug Herzog, the chief of the Comedy Central. And it was approved to run for 8 weeks which was launched on October 17, 2005 without creating a pilot episode (Levin, p.1). At first, the “The Colbert Report,” was first presented and aired in television as commercial for the “The Daily Show.” Since, it became a hit even it is in its early second-week show test, Colbert, the show host has again signed for another contract with the Comedy Central channel to extend the show until the yearend of 2006. And which still runs until now (Levin, p.1). Actually, the show has several segments in which each episode begins by introducing the show’s topics and the guest. Then, the editorial feature or news headlines of the day will be reviewed and Colbert will continue to address specific topics. And this signaled the start of the segment “The Word” in which Colbert’s comments is juxtaposed with satirical bullet pointed on the screen, usually imitating or spoofing the “Talking Points Memo” of the “The O’Reilly Factor” show. However, the middle segment of the show also varies in some occasion. There were episodes were he invites personalities who can share and discuss with the topic of the day. But, the format of the middle segment was a skit or visual presentation which includes the “Better Know a District.” In this part of the skit, U.S. Representative from certain congressional district of the United States was presented and interviewed by Colbert to give an overview on the current situation in his\her jurisdiction. Another interesting on the skit is the part wherein Colbert voiced out his approval or disapproval of prominent people and news items which they call it “Tip of the Hat\Wag of the Finger.” There are also other parts like the health segment called as “Cheating Death with D. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A, “sports segment “The Sport Report” (both words were pronounced without the letter t), the lists of the five greatest threats to America, and others which named as “The Threat Down” and the newest segment which deals with the consumption of specific foods across the globe which they call it “Thought for Food.” And the third and last segment of the show is an interview with a celebrity guest, author o government officials or sometimes music personalities and ended with some parting words from Colbert (Boesel, pp31-33). The Colbert Report is a well-known news satire television show. The fictional character of the show which is portrayed by Stephen Colbert himself tries to imitate exaggeratedly some of the popular news personalities such as Stone Phillips, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Geraldo Rivera. The shows of these personalities are commonly focused on bluster and personality. Aside from this Colbert’s fictional character also play the role of a well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot, God-fearing, super-patriotic, and among others. Due to its contribution to the society, the “The Colbert Show” has received numerous awards such as nomination for 4 Emmys awards, 2 Television Critics Association Awards and 2 Satellite Awards. And it was presented as non-satirical journalism by Tom Delay Legal Defense Trust and Robert Wexler. The “truthiness” word which was coined for the show was even honored as the 2006 Word of the year by Merriam-Webster, a dictionary publisher (Mcfarland, P1-5). The Impact of the “The Colbert Report” on American Culture Since, the landscape of mass media has radically changed over the past decades; more and more American people were already considering satire or “fake news” such as The Colbert Report as a good source of political information as well as find this show as vehicle for their participation in democracy (Boesel, p.5). Aside from political views, the show has also several impacts on the life of the American people and its audiences. Due to the positive acceptance of the show from its audience, several media outlets have made repeated references of the show which include The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered and Fresh Ai, CNN and The Washington Post (Epstein, p.17). Even though the show is satirical, its influence on the political sphere is very significant (Feldman, et.al, p.3). As acclaimed in the study of Feldman, et.al (p.3) the popularity of a politician or candidate had an increase when he/she appeared on the show. The lending credibility or political campaign donations as well of the democratic congressional candidates who appeared on the show segment “Better Know a District” had also significantly increased as compared to the politician who do not a appear. Similar study of Gregory (p. 10) has also proved that exposure of politicians to the political comedy show has served as an effective campaign strategy. One of the reasons behind this was that people easily remember the politician and their relevant information when they are watched from “fake news” shows (Gregory, p.34). Another visible impact of the show was again proved during the announcement of Colbert to sponsor the forthcoming “2010 Winter Olympics” since; the major sponsor of the Olympic had backout due to bankruptcy. Due to the show, public attention and engagement had increased wherein $200,000 were raised for the skaters team. In addition, the team had also taken the attention of media; hence, support has been flooded for the Olympic (Feldman, et.al, p4). The Colbert Report show is also considered as one of the most important venue in increasing public attention to science and environment. Also in the research conducted by Feldman, et.al (p.32) they found out that scientist who are featured or appeared on the show to discuss science and environment topic had significantly motivated the public’s attention. This is because the show decreased the transaction costs and increase the perceived benefits associated with engaging with a fairly specialized domain of knowledge. Another significant influence done by the show/host was the coinage of the word “truthiness” which is defined as preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts known to be true. This was even awarded by the American Dialect Society as the word of the year (Epstein, p.17). The impact of the show to the audience has also place the show host to be equally popular. In fact, due to his popularity he was considered as one of the most influential person in US. As evidence, one species of spider was even named after him (Aptostichus stephencolberti) in 2008 by Jason Bond, an associate professor of the East Carolina University (Associate Press, 2008: p.1). Another, the Ben & Jerry, a popular ice cream company has also named “Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream” one of their ice cream flavors which generally advertized as “the sweet tastes of liberty in your mouth” (Associated Press, 2007: p.1) Research Hypotheses In the conduct of this research, the following hypotheses were formulated: 1. That there are specific publications or reviews, media perception of the show or comedy. 2. That there is significant influence of the show or comedy on published opinion and public reaction through review of published literature. 3. That there is link or consequential political or governmental action regarding the comedy/show. Data Methodology Secondary analysis of media reviews as well as people’s reactions on various partisan comedy shows was utilized in this study in order to examine the evolution of partisan comedy in the United States as well as to determine their influence on social and political views of American people. The analysis was summarized in the table below. Show & description Media outlet People/viewer reaction Influence on politics and social The Colbert Report – is a satirical show which is hosted by Stephen Colbert. Gary Levin of USA Today positive It has a great influence since it features most of the political figures of US. The Daily Show –hosted by Jon Stewart Rachel Smolkin, contributor at American Journalism Review Positive Significant because it analyses political issues The ? Hour News Hour- satire show on the Fox News Channel Daniel Kurtzman of About.com Guide, Political Humor The punch lines are tired and predictable, the set-ups forced, and the entire show is irony-deficient. Shows less influence because it has lesser viewers. Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld – satirical talk show Troy Patterson of Slate by the Slate Group, a division of the Washington Post Company More impressive yet, the most bizarre with light production It has also a little impact since its viewers were lesser although it corrects politics. The Simpsons – is a satirical cartoon show which topics was focused on family and religion Truth Media Editors Negative because the show was very exaggerated Bad influence because the lead character was always drunk and there were frequent violence i.e. car crash. The Larry Sanders Show- featuring celebrities playing exaggerated, self-parodying versions of themselves, and for its character-based humor. Tom Shales of The Washington Post Negative Little influence and impact. Results and Conclusion Through the use of secondary research and analysis, this research has found out that there are specific available publications or reviews about media perception of partisan comedies in the US. It was also found out that comedy shows such as the “The Colbert Report” has significant influence on the social and political views of its audience. In reviewing the development of comedies in the US, the researcher has also learned that the government only takes action on comedy shows which exhibits sexuality and these comedies are usually performed live such as the burlesque. But, in the case of the contemporary political comedy shows on television such as The Colbert Show, the government has not taken any action and instead, take advantage of the popularity of the show to push their political motives. Hence, it is concluded that comedies as a form of entertainment is also considered as an important venue for increasing public attention on various issues in the society through their radical impact. References Associated Press. “Ben & Jerry’s names new flavor for Colbert.” p.1.Posted 2007-02-15. [Accessed on web: November 7, 2011] Associate Press. “Spider to be named for Stephen Colbert”. p.1.Posted July, 17, 2008. [Accessed on web: November 7, 2011] Boesel, Kristen. “The Colbert Nation: A Democratic Place to Be?” pp. 5/31-33. PDF. Cornford, F.M. The Origin of Attic Comedy pp.3-4 .1934 Epstein, Evan Sarah. “The Political Socialization Effects Of The Daily Show And The Colbert Report In High School Aged Adolescents”PDF. 2007 Feldman, Lauren., Leiserowitz, Anthony & Maibach, Edward. “The Impact of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on Public Attentiveness to Science and the Environment”. PDF.May 11, 2011 Gregory,Travis, S. “Quantifying the Colbert Bump in Political Campaign Donations: A Fixed Effects Approach. pp. 1-37. PDF.2011 Griffin, D. H. “Satire: A Critical Reintroduction.” Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.p.1. 1994. Herman, Braet, Guido, Latre, Werner,Verbeke .Risus Mediaevalis: laughter in medieval literature and art p.1 quotation:2003 Kohut, Andrew . America Against the World, Times Books, ISBN 0-8050-7721-9 (288 pages). 2006 Kutzman, Daniel FOX's 1/2 Hour News Hour Short on Laughs. About .com Guide. Political Humor. Febuary, 2007. Levin, Gary. First Stewart! Now Colbert. Paragraph 4. USA Today. October 2005. Patterson, Troy. The bouncy pleasures of Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. SLATE. April, 2007 Peyser, Marc."The Truthiness Teller". Newsweek. MSNBC. Archived from the original on 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2006-02-18. Reckford, Kenneth J. Aristophanes' Old-and-new Comedy: Six essays in perspective p.105. 1978 Rourke, Constance, American Humor: A Study of the National Character on the American Studies at Univ. of Virginia website, (324 pp.), chapter 1; retrieved on 2007-06-20. Shales, Tom . TV review of "The Larry Sanders Show" coming out on box set. The Washington Post. October, 2010 Smolkin, Rachel. What the Mainstream Media Can Learn From Jon Stewart: American Journalism Review. 2009 Truth Media Editor. Review: The Simpsons: Golden Age. Truth Media. April, 2003 Read More